Why would Emcee Network cover an anime convention?
Most of those who understand the evolution of hip hop, easily can comprehend the fact that anime and the japanese culture has influenced a ton of new and old generation hip-hop acts. Many of our favorite rappers today enjoy these recreational events and even sponsor some! Let’s give back to the culture!
Well the convention is officially over and my crew and I had a blast! Youmacon kicked off this year Nov 2nd and lasted the entire weekend. The opening ceremony was stuffed full of free prize giveaways, and a very pleasing roster of public figures that could please most con-goers. The master of ceremonies “Of course you know I held it down for Emcee and got all the access to everything, but for those of you who have no idea what the cultural phenomena “Youmacon” is, join me!
“It’s been another year of fun and cosplay, we’ve all made new friends and gone on new adventures. But now again it’s time to say our goodbyes and stay in contact with one another. We hope you’ve enjoyed the con as much as we enjoyed putting it on for you and we hope we see all of you next year too! Bring some friends, and do a new group cosplay! We look forward to seeing all your pictures from this year, hearing about your experiences, seeing all the cool swag you got from the venders hall, and most importantly, you next year!”
The opening ceremonies kicked off the whole weekend with some lit special guest from all over the globe such as SAWA, Mamoru Yokota and Junichi Hayama. SAWA (oftentimes credited as Nadia) is known for her lyrics and vocals on the soundtracks of “The World Ends With You,” “K-ON,” “Hetalia,” “Overlord,” “Final Fantasy Type-0” and many more! In terms of animation, we have two veterans of the anime industry. Yokota has worked on shows such as “Kanon,” “Air,” “Death Note” and “Naruto” as well as video games such as “BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II.” Hayama worked on “Fist of the North Star,” “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood,” “Gundam Build Fighters” and “Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions.”. Many, if not all of the guest are established members of their respected industries and these people are always offering a lending hand on all those who are looking to expand their brands. Youmacon definitely is a great networking resource besides being a entertainment tycoon.
Anyways, I have the pleasure of working for Youmacon Security as security floor lead (after my many years of volunteering, I got my first opportunities to be a team leader of my own syndicate of operatives) known as “Captain, My Captain.” They run a pretty tight-knit operation every year with the assistance of volunteers and annual team members who are a gang of beautiful people within themselves. It’s always a pleasure being an essential portion that is hand picked for the jobs, I love assisting people with like-causes and the creative presentation of per-serving a culture! #AllLivesMatter
(Contact Owen Matson for Kung Fu sessions and more)
Call (313) 282-3915
Back to what I mentioned earlier, even the anime community recognizes the hip-hop cultural mash-up. There was also the Hip-Hop show which highlighted Yakuza Moon yet again this year! There were some other notable musical figures that were seen around the con showing support besides DREADSPERADO such as KidEquip, Nimbus, Dre Tha Gremlin, Llama, NVDEEM, Tcartsba, HipHopHeads.com, Wesley and the Crushers, MC Yoda, Mega Ran, 91.8 The Fan, Kieran Strange, Tyson Rinehart, Eric Stuart, & Fox and Peppers just to name a few! I spent a ton of time hanging with the old Peanut Butter Mech clique (Cel-Man Iller, KidEquip & CompanyHen) where we discussed all things anime, hip-hop, bitcoin and more! Thankfully a ton of rappers are looking forward to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake for the next gen console as well, which was a big topic in conversation this con. It has been a major staple in the hip-hop /anime bridged gap due to its icon status as an introductory tool in modern asian philanthropy. Though we have gotten a lot of people discussing the remake, machinabridged has offered a beautiful intermission of sorts. I had the honor of introducing a ton of people to Team Four Star’s: Final Fantasy 7 Machinabridged which has to be the most comical interpretation of FF7 thus far. You may remember TFS from their infamous Dragon Ball Abridged series on YouTube and their many successful, mini-series’. These guys are so creative with their brand and quite comical yet they run down the storyline of FF7 so resourcefully and modern that even the most out-of-touch otaku could vibe with their projects. Sadly, they couldn’t make it back to the con this year but we will keep high hopes that next year will include them again!
Not everything was all anime though…the game room was an epic resource for wasting time in between panels. Almost as nostalgic as childhood, the room was filled with the sounds of arcade high scores being broken, competitive trash-talk and the occasional out cries of “SPAM!” Although I spent most of my time on fighting games (BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, Power Stone, Nidhogg, Street Fighter, Marvel Vs…) leaving my stamp on the gaming community of Detroit finally was listed as “Ass Whoopings Complete” once I polished off my undefeated title with a round of Dance Dance Revolution Extreme.
More to come!
